Pierre-Gustave-Gaspard Joly de Lotbinière (February 5, 1798 - June 8, 1865) was a French businessman and amateur

daguerreotypist Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwide in 1839, th ...

, born in Frauenfeld, Switzerland and citizen of the

Republic of Geneva The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons of the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of forty-five Municipality, municipalities, and the seat of the governme ...

, and married to a Canadian seigneuress. Famous for being the first to photograph the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens (; ) is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens, Greece, and contains the remains of several Ancient Greek architecture, ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, ...

and some ancient Egyptian monuments, he is also the father of Sir

Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière Sir Henri-Gustave Joly de Lotbinière, (December 5, 1829 – November 16, 1908) lawyer, businessman and politician served as the fourth premier of Quebec, a Canadian cabinet, federal Cabinet minister, and the List of lieutenant governors of ...

, Premier of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

from 1878 to 1879. Mrs Julie Christine Joly

Biography

Early life

Pierre-Gustave Joly was the son of Antoine Joly de Marval, merchant, and of Ursula Fehr de Brunner. Early in the 1800s, his family settled in

Épernay Épernay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department of northern France, 130 km north-east of Paris on the mainline railway to Strasbourg. The town sits on the left bank of the Marne ...

Champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

, where they specialized in wine trading. While the father and the eldest son, Moïse-Salomon, remained in Épernay, Pierre-Gustave travelled far and wide to find new buyers, first concentrating on Europe, including Germany, Poland, Russia and Sweden, eventually even crossing the Atlantic Ocean to visit the United States and Canada. While there, he met and on December 17, 1828, married in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Julie-Christine Chartier de Lotbinière, daughter of

Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière Michel-Eustache-Gaspard-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière (; August 31, 1748 – January 1, 1822), 2nd Marquis de Lotbinière, though to keep political favour with the British he never used the title. He was seigneur of Vaudreuil, Lotbinière ...

2nd Marquis de Lotbinière. The

seigneury A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal system, feudal title in Ancien Régime, France before the French Revolution, Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owne ...

of Lotbinière near

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

was her dowry. After his wedding, he unofficially added "de Lotbinière" to the first part of his family name. The couple spent the first two years of their marriage in Épernay, where in 1829 their first son, Henri-Gustave, was born, then lived from 1830 in Lotbinière. There, Joly managed his wife's possessions as well as his own investments in

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

and the Canadian railroad. He also sometimes travelled to France.

Traveller in Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land

In 1839, Joly was in Paris at the time when

Louis Daguerre Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre ( ; ; 18 November 1787 – 10 July 1851) was a France, French scientist, artist and photographer, recognized for his invention of the eponymous daguerreotype process of photography. He became known as one of th ...

unveiled his early photographic process to the scientific world. Embarking on a trip to the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, Pierre-Gustave acquired one of the first daguerreotype cameras from Noël Paymal Lerebours in order to make photographic records of the ancient monuments he was about to see on his journey. He travelled via

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

to Greece, where he visited

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and other places, and then carried on to

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

. There, he met the painter

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (; 30 June 178917 January 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects. Biography Early career Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famo ...

and his nephew,

Frédéric Goupil-Fesquet Frédéric Goupil-Fesquet (1817–1878) was a French painter and photographer who took the first ever photograph of Jerusalem during a trip he made from France in 1839. Journey to Jerusalem In October 1839, Goupil-Fesquet sailed from the port ...

, who were also carrying daguerreotype equipment. The three men undertook some excursions in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

together before parting company. Joly then travelled to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and Turkey. Back in Paris, five of his 92 plates were published by Lerebours in his book ''Excursions daguerriennes'' (1840–41), others by architect

Hector Horeau In Greek mythology, Hector (; , ) was a Trojan prince, a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's ''Iliad'', where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing c ...

for his book ''Panorama from Egypt and Nubia'' (1841). Due to technological restrictions, the daguerreotypes themselves could not be reproduced and, instead, were copied as

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

s which could then be printed. None of Joly's original plates has been identified, and they may well be lost. What they contained is known through his

diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digita ...

which has been published in 2011.

Later life

He returned to his family in Quebec and is not known to ever taking any further photographs after this trip. Instead, Joly built a summer estate at Pointe-Platon near Sainte-Croix. Known today as
Domaine Joly-De Lotbinière
', the estate has been entered in the register of Canada's Historic Places. In 1861, after 33 years of marriage, Joly separated from his wife who, in the previous year, had signed over the seigneury of Lotbinière to their eldest son Henri-Gustave. Joly went back to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he died in 1865 and was buried in the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

. His wife died in Quebec, October 24, 1887, having survived her husband for many years, aged 77 and her remains was buried at Vaudreuil.

Children

The couple had three children, one daughter and two sons. His eldest son, Sir Henri-Gustave Joly served as Premier of Quebec and Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia. Joly inherited the

of Lotbinière from his mother in 1860, and later the family estate of Pointe Platon. He added the last part of his mother's maiden name "de Lotbinière" to the first part of his father's name "Joly", by Act of Parliament, in 1888. He was created a K.C.M.G. by Queen Victoria, 1895. His daughter Amelie-Ursule Joly married Captain Henry George (H.G.) Savage, R.E., and their daughter, Alice, became the Vicomtesse de Coux after marrying Alfred Aimé Etienne Michel de Coux. His son Edmond Joly, entered the army, being gazetted to the 32nd Regiment. While on sick leave, he volunteered for service in the Crimea, and was present with the Connaught Rangers at the taking of Sebastopol. In 1857 he left for India, to rejoin his old regiment. Edmond Joly was with the

Connaught Rangers The Connaught Rangers ("The Devil's Own") was an Ireland, Irish line infantry regiment of the British Army formed by the amalgamation of the 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) (which formed the ''1st Battalion'') and the 94th Regiment of Fo ...

at the

Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) The siege of Sevastopol (at the time called in English the siege of Sebastopol) lasted from October 1854 until September 1855, during the Crimean War. The allies ( French, Sardinian, Ottoman, and British) landed at Eupatoria on 14 September ...

, but was killed at the

Siege of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British The Residency, Lucknow, Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After ...

September 25, 1857.

Images

File:Propylaea 1839.jpg, The

Propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaion, propylaeon or, in its Latinized form, ''propylaeum''—often used in the plural forms propylaia or propylaea (; Greek: προπύλαια)—is a monumental gateway. It serves as a partition, separat ...

, Athens, in October, 1839 File:Parthenon 1839.jpg, The

Parthenon The Parthenon (; ; ) is a former Ancient Greek temple, temple on the Acropolis of Athens, Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the Greek gods, goddess Athena. Its decorative sculptures are considered some of the high points of c ...

, Athens, in October, 1839 File:Colonnes du temple de Zeus olympien, 1839.jpg, The Temple of Olympian Zeus, Athens, in October, 1839 File:Kiosk of Trajan 1839.jpg,

Trajan's Kiosk Trajan's Kiosk, also known as Pharaoh's Bed () by the locals, is a hypaethral temple currently located on Agilkia Island in southern Egypt. The unfinished monument is attributed to Trajan, Roman emperor from 98 to 117 AD, due to his depiction ...

Philae The Philae temple complex (; , , Egyptian: ''p3-jw-rķ' or 'pA-jw-rq''; , ) is an island-based temple complex in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser, Egypt. Originally, the temple complex was ...

, in December, 1839 File:Cimetière des musulmans à Damas.jpg,

Bab al-Saghir Bab al-Saghir () is one of the seven gates in the Old City of Damascus, Syria. It has '' qubūr'' (, graves) on either side of the road, and is located in the Dimashq Neighborhood, southwest of the Umayyad Mosque. History The ''bāb'' (, gate) ...

cemetery,

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, in March, 1840

References

Other sources

* Eleanor Brown
''The world's first daguerreotype images : Canadian travel photographer Pierre Gustave Gaspard Joly de Lotbinière''
in ''The Archivist '' n°118, November 1999, pp. 22–29. *

Hazen Sise Hazen Edward Sise (22 October 1906 – 15 February 1974) was a Canadian architect, educator, and humanitarian. Early life and education Sise was born in 1906 in Montreal, Quebec. His father, Paul Fleetford Sise, was president of the Northern ...

, ''The Seigneur of Lotbinière - His "Excursions daguerriennes"'', Canadian Art, 1951, Vol. IX, no 1. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joly De Lotbiniere, Gaspard-Pierre-Gustave Pioneers of photography Travel photographers French architectural photographers 1798 births 1865 deaths Canadian photographers Burials at Montmartre Cemetery People from Frauenfeld